Hit and Run
by Steefwaterbutter
Summary: Nick's gone missing, and Judy is desperate to find him. Even if it means venturing into a desolate forest when rumors run wild. More like K-plus, but T to be safe. Two-shot.
1. Hit and Run

_A/N: Yep. I've joined another fandom. Zootopia. Oh man. I saw the movie on Saturday, and I loved it so much I simply HAD to write a one shot in tribute to Judy and Nick's friendship. With, of course, some good ol' hurt/comfort thrown in._

* * *

 _I must be getting close._

Judy's whiskers twitched, and she twisted her paws together, sniffing at the air. The soggy air did indeed hold traces of fox. _C'mon Judy, you can do this._

Almost forty-eight hours ago her friend, her best friend, Nick, had been declared missing.

He had disappeared, leaving barely a trace behind. Barely.

The rabbit crouched low to branch she was perched on, uneasy pricklings going up and down her neck. A chill floated through her body, and Judy shivered, rubbing her paws up and down her arms. Mist hovered quietly above the ground, weaving in and out of bushes, around the trunks of trees. The wind gave a soft rustle as it passed between the leaves. It felt like she was being watched. Some sense, some instinct buried deep within her whispered warnings into her long grey ears.

She had taken up the case immediately, spent almost every bit of energy she had picking up leads, scraping together clues. As she had worked on the case, the rabbit cop had begun to realized just how much she depended on Nick in cases like these. Not many of the secrets of Zootopia were hidden from him.

But it was more than that. It had only been two days, but she already missed the fox's snarky comments, his sharp whit, his jokes. The way his tail fluffed out when he was startled. The way his eyes lit up when he discovered a new clue.

Eventually, the trail had led her here, a remote forest on the edge of Zootopia. A place where scarcely any animals dared reside. There were rumors that circulated around this place, whisperings of dark and secret things.

 _Rumors_ , Judy reminded herself. _Not facts._

Judy bent down to get a closer look at the branch, and inhaled sharply. The bark had been slashed with claw marks. They were different than the ones she and Nick had found in Mr. Big's car all those months ago. Those had been completely random, scattered across the seats and walls. This time, there was simply two sets of four deep claw scrapings, both leading downward. It looked at if someone had been dragged off the branch.

Judy peered down off the branch, her ears tilted forward to pick up any stray sounds. He back legs tensed, ready to jump, then grimaced and straightened back up. With the mist obscuring nearly everything in this forest, there was no telling how far away the ground was.

Suddenly, she stiffened her ears pricking forward and her eyes opening wide. There was the sensation again, that whispering of _run, run_. Telling herself not to be silly, the rabbit shook her head and scampered back across to branch to the place she had first jumped on. Once she could see the ground, Judy wrapped her paws around the branch and swung down, hanging off the branch like monkeys once did. After a second, she let go, landing straight into a puddle of muck. The cold, dirty water gave a mighty splash, speckling her neat uniform with mud.

 _Wonderful,_ Judy thought, gritting her teeth, her ears pinning back slightly. Spirits slightly damped, Judy hurried on.

She needed to find Nick. She need to find him fast. What if those claw marks were from him? What if he'd been attacked, what if he was-

Judy ran faster, her muscles bunching and flexing as she sprang across the damp forest floor, slick with wet leaves. One or twice her feet nearly shot out from under her, but she dared not slow down. She was so close to finding him, she couldn't slow down now.

The rabbit was running so quickly she forgot to look where she was going, and suddenly her back paws tripped over something warm and furry.

For a second Judy was flying through the air, the next she was facedown in the muck. Spitting out a mouthful of mud, Judy raised her head and turned around to see what she had tripped over.

It was Nick. Judy gasped, immediately forgetting her own discomforts, and streaked over to the fox. He was lying on his stomach, his breathing strained, and his teeth clenched slightly. His brilliant red coat was coated with muck and deep scratches ran down the length of his side, including a long cut down his leg.

"C'mon, Nick, wake up," she murmured, turning him over and gently slapping the sides of his face. "C'mon."

The fox groaned and curled up in his uninjured side wrapping his long red tail around himself. "Whaddya want?" he moaned, and cracked an eye open, his voice slurring.

"Nick..." was all Judy could get out, before her voice splintered. Her shoulders slumped and she sat down hard on the soggy forest floor.

"Heh... you bunnies... are so emotion-" Nick suddenly sucked in his breath wrapping his arms tighter around himself.

Judy rubbed her paw up down his arm, shushing him. With her other paw she reached for her radio. "This is Agent Hopps. I've found Nick. We're in Forest Area 36. Over."

Static was the only reply.

Judy let out a slight growl of frustration and tried again. "This is Agent Hopps, come in please!"

Silence.

"Hello? _Anyone_!?"

No one answered.

Judy drew back her paw and was about to throw the radio into the forest when she throught better of it and hastily returned it to it's pouch.

"You're... you're kind of cute when you're mad, Carrots," Nick murmured, a lopsided grin smeared across his face.

"I'll have you know I take offensive to that, _Mr. Wilde,"_ Judy retorted, hastily wrapping a makeshift bandage around the fox's injured leg, and giving him a clean cloth to press against his side. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

She offered him her paw to help, and after a second hesitation he took it, which only resulted in pulling the small rabbit down on top of him.

Blushing furiously, Judy scrambled off his stomach. "I guess you're heavier than you look," she huffed.

"Guess I should lay off the doughnuts, heh," Nick joked, giving one of his signature smirks, but it turned into a wince as he pushed across the ground to try and heave himself up.

"Nick," Judy's voice suddenly grew hard. "What happened to you?"

The fox leaned against a tree and rubbed his forehead. "Well, I- _Judy, look out!"_

Judy jumped out of the way, landing on all fours in a pile of leaves. A large bull's hooves slammed where she had been seconds before.

"The rabbit and the fox," he growled. "At last."

No time to ask questions. Judy grabbed Nick's paw and pulled them under a fallen branch. With a roar the bull collided with with the branch, causing the whole thing to tremble.

She tucked and rolled down a small bank and pressed up under the outcropping of dirt. Nick followed, slower, clumsier.

"He's the one that kidnapped me. Knocked me out and brought me here. I... m... managed to escape, but... he's been after me for two days, I... don't know why." His voice came out as a strained whisper. Judy glanced over and gasped in horror, placing a hand over her mouth. Her ears flopped back, and her eyes opened wide.

Streaks of scarlet were dripping down and over Nick's paw as he pressed it against his side. The cloth she had given him was already completely red. All the movement must have reopened the wounds.

"You can't run with that," Judy breathed. Nick leaned towards her and opened his mouth to speak, but Judy cut him off. "And I'm _not_ leaving you."

Nick slumped against the dirt, his face drawn, sucking short breaths. The sound was like a knife twisted in her gut. "Shhh, it's going be okay, we're going to be okay," she murmured, grabbing his free paw with her own and squeezing it lightly. "Trust me."

Her face was calm, her voice light, betraying none of the tension that flooded through her body.

"You can't hide from me," the bull called out in a sing-song voice. "I know you're here somewhere. I know what you did to my little sheep. It wasn't very nice. It wasn't very nice at all."

 _He must be referring to Bellwether,_ Judy thought, nibbling on her paw. Three months ago Nick and Judy had uncovered a savage plot laid by Zootopia's assistant mayor, a ewe called Bellwether. This bull must have have been tied up with her somehow, and now it seemed he was looking for revenge.

"I'll tear you apart for what you did to her." The bull's voice grew deeper, then light again. "Come out little bunny."

Judy shrank back, digging her heels into the dirt in an effort to press herself as flat as she could against the dirt wall. _Think, Judy think!_ The small rabbit yelled in her mind. _What to do, what to do, what to do?!_

She cast her eyes wildly around, looking for something, anything. Then she saw it. She knew where they were. She knew what to do.

"Nick," she whispered, looking straight into the fox's bright green eyes. "Do you trust me?"

No hesitation. "Yes."

"When I give the signal, we're going to take off as fast as we can. Don't stop running, _no matter what._ "

The fox nodded, one paw still wrapped tightly around his side. Judy gently took the other in her hand.

"I know you're here somewhere..." the bull's voice grew louder, then softer.

"Now."

Judy shot out from under the bank, pulling Nick with her. Sweat poured down the fox's face and high pitched whines of agony escaped his lips, as his leg nearly gave out on him.

"Keep going, Nick! You can do this," Judy yelled, her heart squeezing at the sound of her friend's pain.

Behind them the bull roared, like the sound of the loudest tractor. It rattled through Judy's sensitive ears, shaking her to the core, but she didn't dare stop running.

Then the ground beneath her disappeared. She let herself fall, still holding on tightly to Nick's paw, her heart ready to leap out of her chest.

Before she could scream, they hit the water. This time she had been too disoriented to do a proper dive, and smacked into the surface of the water. The impact nearly drove the breath from her lungs. She came up gasping, calling out for Nick.

A glimpse of red entered her vision, and Judy desperately swam towards it, her whole body shaking from fear and cold. Within seconds she caught hold of the unconscious fox, and slowly began dragging him along, grateful to whoever had decided that things in water would be much lighter than they were on land.

It was only when the police force had been notified, and Nick had been hastily patched up, did Judy all allow herself to break down and cry, holding Nick close to her, holding him as if she would never let go.

* * *

 _A/N: Don't forget to leave a review on the way out. I always love reading them! :)_


	2. Epilogue

_A/N: Thank you all sosososososo much for reading this story, faving, following and reveiwing. I was literally blown away by the amount of email alerts I got the first couple days. Quite a few people requested I add onto the story, so here you are: and epilogue of sorts that hopefully ties up those loose ends._

 _It came out a bit more shippy than I intended, but, oh well, just think of it as hardcore platonic shipping. XD_

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

In here, the air seemed stale, so still, so different from the wet, pungent smell of the forest. In here, the only sound was the click-clack of the secretary's hooves as she tapped away on her keyboard from behind the counter of the hospital's waiting room. In here, the walls were empty, a stark line of unbroken white. In here, it seemed there was no time: no day or night, only those stark white walls.

The waiting room was deserted, except the secretary and a small grey rabbit dressed in a police officer's uniform.

The rabbit gave a small groan and rubbed her stiff back with a paw, before slumping back against the hard plastic chair. Reaching a hand to her belt, Judy Hopps pulled out her phone, squinting at the small screen. 5:30 AM. Almost time for sunrise.

"His name's Aaron. Aaron Llonghorn."

Judy's head jerked up as a file slid onto her lap. The chair she was sitting on squeaked in protest at her movement, and the rabbit flattened her ears at the sharp sound.

"Sorry to startle you, Officer Hopps," the large water buffalo said, clearing his throat. "But I thought you might want to see some of the information we found on the kidnapper."

Judy opened the small manila folder, quickly glancing over the photos and file reports. Her brow furrowed as she gathered the details. _I suppose it all makes a bit more sense now..._

"So, he was working alone?" Judy finally asked, looking back up at the huge water buffalo.

"As far as we can tell, yes. We searched through a lot of the forest, and we didn't find anything that would suspect otherwise. We will, however, be keeping an eye on that area for a while now."

Judy nodded, some of the tightness inside her easing. Hopefully, that Aaron Llonghorn was the last stray thread left of Bellwether's conspiring, and the city could finally be free from her trickery.

"How's Nick?" Chief Bogo asked, his eyes growing softer.

Judy let out a small sigh, looking down and swinging her dangling legs. "Okay, I think. He has some... internal bruising, they said, in addition to his gashes. They haven't let me see him yet."

At that moment, the far door opened a crack and a dark brown and whire pinto mare peered out. "Officer Hopps?" she called out softly. "You can come and see your friend now. He's going to be just fine " The mare smiled, answering Judy's unspoken question.

Judy slowly slid off her chair, and glanced up at Chief Bogo. "Well, better go," she said, shrugging her shoulders in an effort to appear casual.

"Send Nick my greetings," Chief Bogo told her with a small wave as she disappeared through the door.

* * *

Judy didn't know if she would ever be able to let go. "I can't believe I almost lost you," she whispered, burying her head under Nick's warm, furry chin.

"Hey there, easy now, Carrots," she heard him say, but his paws didn't slacken from their grip around her. His voice was cracked and dry. "It's okay."

"I know... it's just..." Judy closed her eyes, letting the light of the rising sun pour through the large window wash over her face. She breathed in his scent, telling herself that he was going to be alright. "I keep thinking: what if..."

"Not another word, Missy." Nick pulled back and placed a paw over her mouth, a teasing grin starting to tug at the corners of his mouth.

Judy's ears flopped back and she crossed her arms and gave an annoyed "mmphhh", the sound muffled by Nick's paw. She grabbed it and pulled it down.

"Oh, like you weren't scared _at all_."

"I knew you were going to find me," Nick drawled, leaning back on his pillows and putting his paws behind his head. "Best bun-bun the police force has ever had."

"More like the only," Judy scoffed, sliding off the bed onto the whitewashed floor and picking up the case file she had tossed aside upon entering. "Wait a second... _what did you call me?_ "

"Nothing."

"Let's just say you're lucky you're injured, Mr. Wilde," Judy retorted, rolling her eyes. She took a breath, trying to steady the swarm of emotions that had poured through her in the couple of hours.

The rabbit took a second to cast her gaze over Nick, really looking at him for the first time since their flight through the forest. He looked exhausted, and the beginnings of a real "shinner" was beginning to appear under his left eye, but other than that, he was still Nick Wilde, her best friend.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, coming back over to sit on the edge of bed.

"Glad to be out of the woods, no pun intended," he replied, lightly prodding his side. Judy slapped his paw away.

"Don't touch that, you'll only make it worse," she chastised. "Anyway, I got some information on the kidnapper. I was right in assuming he worked for Bellwether," Judy began, placing the open case file on his lap. "He was one of her recruits, and, according to her, had a small crush on her."

"Small?" Nick gaped. "That thing would have torn the forest apart for her!"

"Just shush, I'll get to that soon enough," Judy said, but her whiskers quivered. It was true. If she hadn't been able to contact the police... the small rabbit shook herself.

"Anyway, he somehow accidentally got into the night howlers. The thing is, he didn't react like all the other animals did. The police are still trying to figure out why. He just went... kind of crazy, but not completely 'savage'. At first, Bellwether didn't even know he had eaten them. She did notice that he was acting very strange, especially around her. He was, oh... what do they say.. 'consumed with passion'. Bellwether got so... creeped out that she eventually tried to 'get rid of him' in Area 36. No one around, an old, creepy forest, perfect place for staging an accident. But, somehow, he got away. Police figure that after a while the effects of the night howler began to wear off, and he regained enough of his sanity to find out about Bellwether and find me... somehow."

"Well, that's that, I guess," Nick sighed, slumping back. "They sure got the information fast."

"Bellwether was kind enough to spill the beans," Judy replied with a wink. "So.. will you be coming back when you're healed?"

"Just try and stop me," Nick grinned, then coughed.

Judy moved closer and gently rubbed his shoulder. "Try and get some sleep."

She turned to go, but stopped as she heard Nick's voice, almost pleading, "Hey, uh, Carrots... can... you stay for a bit more?"

"Of course, Nick," Judy murmured, leaning forward and giving his forehead a quick kiss, before slipping off the bed again.

The fox ducked his head, his cheeks turning redder than his fur. Judy covered her mouth and let out a small giggle, then pulled up a chair by the window where she could watch the day go by.

"Judy?" Nick already sounded half-asleep.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for finding me."

A warmth erupted in the small rabbit at his words, flowing from her chest down into her fluffy tail. "Hey, it was no problem. I got your back. That's what's friends are for."

The only answer was Nick's quiet breathing.

Judy smiled and leaned back in the chair. Sleep tugged at the corners of her eyes, but she didn't close them yet. Sleep could come later. For now, she kept watch over Nick, her partner, her best friend.

* * *

 _A/N: I drew a few bits of this story from my own life. That bit at the beginning in the hospital waiting room was taken from my experience of sitting for hours in the music room during dress rehearsals for the play I'm in. There's no windows, so even though there's a clock in there... it just seems timeless. I spent a lot of my time in there writing "Hit and Run", hahaha._

 _I made the nurse a brown and white pinto, after a horse I ride, named Rango. :)_

 _And I have a bunny in real life, and I'm ALWAYS calling him my "bun-bun" just as a cute little nickname._

 _Don't forget to review! :D_


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